Bitcoin price drops more than $1,000 in Asian trade

HONG KONG/ TOKYO (Reuters) - Bitcoin hiccoughed in Asian trading on Thursday to at one point stand more than 6% down on the day after failing to make record highs.

Bitcoin, the world's biggest and best-known crypto-currency, was last trading around $17,700, having lost more than $1,000 since its previous close.

"With very high volumes on spot but also on leveraged markets, it's not surprising that after failing to hit the all-time highs, there would be this sort of rapid correction," said Justin d'Anethan sales manager at digital asset company Diginex.

"While a quick visit in the upper or mid-16,000s is possible, we're still trending up and with plenty of upside potential," he added

This year, bitcoin has risen 358.6% from the year's low of $3,850 on March 13, but has not yet breached the $19,666 hit in December 2017.

Analysts say that this latest rally differs from 2017's as there are proportionally fewer retail investors and more institutions such as hedge funds and family offices trading cryptocurrencies.

 

 

(Reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong and the Tokyo Markets team; Editing by Clarence Fernandez & Simon Cameron-Moore)